


So Please Don't Go

by CastielTheAngel



Series: Voltron Whump Week 2017 [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood Loss, Crying Keith (Voltron), Crying Lance (Voltron), Disturbing Themes, Emotionally Unstable Keith, Established Keith/Lance (Voltron), Graphic Description, Injured Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Kinda, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Lance's Sharpshooting Skills Are Top Notch, M/M, Major Character Injury, Near Death, Near Death and/or Blood Loss, Out of Character Keith, Out of Character Lance, Protective Keith (Voltron), Sort Of, Voltron Whump Week 2017, fucking dramatic, i'm so freakin late, klance, lots of blood, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 14:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11899356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielTheAngel/pseuds/CastielTheAngel
Summary: The team meets a Galra ship and sends Lance and Keith to sneak in and steal a sample of quintessence for examination and experimentation. Lance is seriously injured in the process.poor lance... oml i gotta stop picking on this sweet soft boy...





	So Please Don't Go

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNING: This story contains content that may be disturbing to read. It's a little dark and violent.**  
>  Even I freaked myself out a little while writing this, tbh. Had to look up a bunch of stuff about what types of wounds are(n't) fatal and what the average human body can handle... shudder...
> 
>  
> 
>  ****Unedited!  
> **  
>  I'd appreciate it if you'd correct me so I can fix any typos! Thank you!
> 
>  
> 
> The prompt for day three is 'Near Death and/or Blood Loss'! Surprise surprise, I'm fUcKiNg LaTe1!
> 
> i'm so sorry honestly i'm the worst with deadlines, especially with writing and just getting motivated in the first place... i'm surprised i haven't failed school yet h a h .. ah.
> 
> I seriously have an issue with making Keith out to be an asshole in some of these, and I need to fucking stop. Cx I love him so much and he's NOT an asshole (usually), so why the hell do I write him as one?? ;;;;w;;;;
> 
> (title stolen from "Please Don't Go" by Joel Adams. because i'm not creative. OUO )
> 
>  
> 
> More info can be found at [voltronwhumpweek2017](https://voltronwhumpweek2017.tumblr.com) on Tumblr!

 

 

✿◉●•◦ ◦•●◉✿

 

 

         Lance turns his head just as a bolt of light jets past him, impossibly close to colliding with his helmet. The Galra sentries that turn the corner and spot him begin to fire shot after shot. Lance activates his particle shield, summoning his bayard to return the blows. There are seven guards, but he doesn't need all seven shots. He takes them down in six.

         Lance momentarily lets his guard down when he hears the unmistakable sound of footsteps against metal above him. He turns to investigate just as Keith drops down beside him from the air vent in the wall just a few feet above their heads.

         "We have what we came for. Let's move!" Keith says urgently, holding up a small cylinder of the glowing, golden liquid he'd stolen. Another patrol of Galra sentries rounds the corner. Keith shoves Lance backwards into the hallway they need to navigate to escape. 

         They sprint down the corridor- Keith a few feet ahead, and Lance panting behind him. 

         "Where did Hunk say he'd pick us up?" Lance gasps. Keith shoots a quick glance in Lance's general direction, frowning at how much the blue paladin is struggling to keep pace with him.

         "Just one more turn to go. Keep up!" Keith grunts, picking up his speed. Lance groans inwardly.

         "Keith, wait, I'm not as fast as you are, _and_ my bayard's weighing me down!" He shouts.

         "Just change it!" Keith shoots back, tone wavering- as if he can't decide whether he should be irritated or perturbed. 

         "I can't while we're running, I've gotta concentrate on that kind of stuff! It's not like I'm a _bayard master_ or anything!" Lance retaliates immediately. Keith groans, but he makes no effort to slow down. Not from what Lance can tell, anyway.

         He nearly crashes into Keith's back when the red paladin stops short, activating his shield and readying his sword.

         There are several Galra sentries- about twelve, probably- in front of them, and the ones that had been following them approach with their weapons ready. Lance turns to face them and summons his own shield, aiming his blaster and shooting.

         He can hear the cringeworthy, gooseflesh-inducing scraping of metal against metal as Keith slashes away at the sentries behind Lance. 

         Lance finishes off the five guards on his side and turns to help Keith. 

         He pauses for a moment, assessing Keith's erratic movements so he knows just when and where to shoot. 

         Keith shifts left, dodges right, and- Lance pulls the trigger on his blaster just as Keith ducks out of the way of a haphazardly-swung sword. He hits the sentry right in the middle of its chest.

         Keith looks mildly startled as the guard falls, but he quickly recovers and moves on to stab at another bot carrying a sword. They're nearly out of the fray.

         Lance detects the skilled swinging of another sentry's sword out of the corner of his eye. At the sentry's speed, he figures he has approximately three ticks to take out the final gun-wielding bot to his left before the sworded one attacks. 

_Man, was he ever mistaken._

         Lance succeeds in shooting the bot he'd been aiming for, but he redirects his second shot too clumsily. Too inaccurately. Just a little too late.

         He misses.

         Lance barely has a second to register his own disappointment in himself before the guard charges at him, sword gleaming in the sickening purple lighting. Lance's eyes widen and he makes to jump away from the blade as he drops his bayard, but he isn't quick enough. 

         The sentry's swift blur and the jabbing motion of its sword are the only two things Lance can see. He can hear Keith shouting something behind him, but his intermittent heartbeat pounds hard and loud, and blood roars in his ears. He doesn't understand Keith's yelling. The blade pierces Lance's exposed torso and slides deep into his abdomen. It twists inside the boy's body.

         The shrill, bone-chilling screech that wrenches its way up Lance's throat is substantially the most terrifying noise Keith has _ever heard_. Without a second thought, Keith slings his bayard at the sentry as hard as he can. He immediately wishes he hadn't. The sentry lurches backwards as its core is destroyed, pulling the sword out with it.

         Another nightmarish wail is drawn from Lance's mouth as the blade is brutally ripped from his belly. He collapses to his knees and slumps over onto his side the moment he hits the ground, clutching his abdomen and grinding his teeth.

         Keith's at his side in a heartbeat, lifting Lance's head into his lap gently as he frantically shouts over the communicators in their helmets for the rest of the team. His voice breaks with every desperately repeated name. 

         Lance shudders out a sob as he presses his hands against his stomach, turning his face into Keith's thigh. The pain twists deep inside his gut and it makes him feel sick- makes him want to vomit.

         He lifts one of his hands up and very nearly _does_ at the sight. His black-fabric-clad fingers are coated in thick, dark blood. It drips between them disgustingly. Lance whimpers involuntarily at the sight, and Keith nearly chokes on his own saliva. 

         "Don't look at that. Just- just put pressure on the wound, it- it'll-" Keith stumbles over his hurried words as he cups Lance's bloody hand in his own and presses it back against the hole in the younger boy's torso. Lance cries out at the sudden contact, and more tears lick down his flushed, freckled cheeks. 

         " _Keith_ , fuck, it _hurts_ -" He squeaks, tightening his fingers around Keith's hand against his belly. Keith clenches his teeth and wills away the tears welling in his eyes. Lance's body trembles and quakes as he gasps into Keith's thigh.

         "Please, make it stop, make it _stop_ , _oh my god_ -" He presses his forehead against Keith's leg as hard as he can, squeezing his eyes shut. Keith bends over to rest his lips against Lance's temple in a soft kiss. 

         "Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay. I-It's gonna be okay," Keith chokes out shakily, running his free hand through Lance's disheveled hair. In his macabre state, Lance fails to notice the wetness on the side of his face from Keith's tears. 

         "The rest of the team's gonna be here soon, I promise." He breathes just above Lance's ear. Lance whines high in his throat as his grip on Keith's other hand strengthens.

         Keith's shoulders shake as he stares into Lance's hair, grinding his teeth together. He realizes that he has to try and hold up what's left of his crumbling wall of confidence for Lance, but he's not sure how much longer he can do it.

          _Please don't die, please don't die, you can't die, you can't_ - An endless cycle of desperate pleas cloud his mind as he trembles over Lance's shaking figure. 

         "Keith, _Keith_ -" Lance's breath catches in his throat. It's partially a groan, and partially a sob. Keith knows he doesn't have much longer before he reaches his breaking point- the fury and physical need to cry or scream or do  _something_  is overwhelming him, nearly to the edge of literal immobility.

 

      _Thank god for Hunk, and the blessing that he is._

 

         Keith's just about ready to let go and screech, or perhaps remove his hand from Lance's hair and slam his fist against the ground as hard as he possibly can. But Hunk finally shows up. He's completely horrified at the pool of blood Lance's convulsing body is resting in, and he's definitely caught off guard by the terrifyingly inexplicable expression on Keith's face, but he's _here now_. 

         Keith allows Hunk to lift a dazed Lance from his lap. His glare is close to _murderous_ when Lance's head falls limp against Hunk's bicep, and he makes a harsh point about keeping the youngest of the three comfortable. Keith retrieves the quintessence sample and carries Lance's bayard back.

 

         When Keith first encounters the rest of the team in front of Lance's healing pod, he's nearly gone completely animalistic with panic. He's a crying, raging mess. It's _scary_. But Keith finally exhausts himself, and Shiro's there for the boy to collapse against, sniveling and whimpering incoherent words.

 

         Shiro stays with him for the first night. They sleep in a nest of blankets that Coran had provided them with not long after Keith had fallen into an uncomfortable- yet much needed- slumber.

 

         "I didn't even get to say goodbye. Or tell him how much I love him." Keith groans into his hands the following afternoon when he awakens. He's staring up at Lance's frozen body in the pod from his spot in the mess of blankets. Shiro's hand is on the younger paladin's back, rubbing reassuring circles into Keith's tee-shirt.

         "He knows how much you love him. You tell him every single day." Shiro murmurs. "Besides, Coran patched him up well. He'll wake up. I know he will." 

         Keith's not stupid. His mind may be clouded with an inexplicable plethora of emotions, but it doesn't numb him to the uncertainty behind Shiro's words. He knows that Shiro means well, but they both realize that Lance surviving such a dangerous wound is a long, _long_ reach. Shiro supplies the ladder. Keith only hopes it doesn't break.

 

         Shiro offers to stay with Keith the second night, but Keith softly declines. He knows that Shiro will be in his ear constantly urging him to get some sleep, and although Keith has finally calmed down and he has infinite appreciation for Shiro's concern, his current patience levels are thinner than a sheet of ice. He doesn't want Shiro to become the victim of his anger if he snaps again.

 

         On the second day, Keith hardly leaves the spot in front of Lance's cryopod. He doesn't eat or drink a thing.

 

         On the third night, Keith cries again. It doesn't last long; just a few anger-fueled tears. He begs for Lance to do- _literally anything_. He doesn't sleep very well.

 

         On the third day, Keith's pleas are answered.

 

         He awakens to the soft sound of the cryopod _whooshing_ open, and he's on his feet just in time to catch Lance as the boy tumbles out face-first. Keith returns them to the nest of blankets, staring down at Lance in his lap.

         Lance is completely unresponsive for a moment, which nearly gives Keith a panic attack. But then the younger boy groans and his eyes flicker beneath his lids. Keith nearly screeches his elation, barely stopping himself at the remembrance that Coran had told him Lance would be a little oversensitive and delirious to bright lights and loud noises once he got out of the pod. So Keith sits quietly, pulse hammering sporadically in his chest as he gazes down at the boy in his arms.

         "...Keith," Lance breathes. _Finally_. Keith's chest twists and his heart leaps beneath his ribcage. He knows he should tell the others that Lance is awake, but he just wants the boy all to himself for a few moments.

         " _Lance_." Keith grins right back, tears wetting his cheeks for what must be the hundredth time within the three days. 

         "What happened? How long was I- mmph!" Lance sighs contently through his nose when Keith leans down and closes the space between their lips. Keith's lips move quick and desperate in his relief, and Lance's return is soft, gentle, and comforting.

         "I'll spare you the details. Three days." Keith replies when he lifts his head. Lance smiles up at Keith, and Keith bends over to hug the boy to his chest. He's careful to be gentle as he squeezes Lance's torso, as Coran had also informed him that Lance would probably be sore for a while.

         "I love you so much. God, I love you, you're amazing, and perfect, and you're so _so_ talented- Don't know what I'd have done without you-" Keith breathes into Lance's hair. A quiet little laugh rumbles deep in Lance's throat as he returns the hug.

         "I love you too." He mumbles, grinning into Keith's shoulder. "You could keep complimenting me though, if you want," He prompts, tone light and playful. Keith doesn't have the heart to feel genuine annoyance at Lance's words. That's harmless banter for another time.

         He's just _incredibly_ glad and grateful to _whatever omnipresent beings_ that Lance will be okay.

         Lance will be just fine.

 

 

✿◉●•◦ ◦•●◉✿

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> There's something that I tried not to dwell on, but it's kinda bothering me so I wanted to take note of it--
> 
> Lance having a difficult time keeping up due to his bayard being too heavy? That part doesn't really make sense, because in canon we've seen him run while carrying it without any trouble. (specifically in s3ep4, i can't recall any others atm-)
> 
> But.. I couldn't think of any other excuses for him being slower than Keith..  
> Honestly, that part wasn't even needed. I totally used it as a filler to make this ever-so-slightly longer...
> 
> ... oh well. ;W;


End file.
